This stone is filed
for safekeeping at the University of Minnesota archives, Minneapolis, MN. It was
originally found in the town of Roseau (Minnesota) in the late 1920’s. The
geographical coordinates of Roseau are 48°51' N. Latitude and 95°42' W.
Longitude. The stone had a face with runes around it.

Some quotations:

...

This stone has a
history of interest. The story of its finding and subsequent study was written
down by its main (and only serious) researcher, John Jager, in the mid 1930’s.
For introduction here is Jager’s biography.

This person was,
first, a great architect who designed many of the public buildings still
standing in Minneapolis/ St. Paul, Minnesota.

Jager was also a
genius scholar interested in world-wide anthropology and epigraphy. He was also
one of the first pioneers to put forth the idea of cultural diffusion and global
travel, to North America, by the ancient mariners. John Jager wrote a formal
telling of the stone’s history. A rough draft of this was found typewritten by
Jager on the old style, manual, carbon-ribbon machine (see
below).

The final
presentation of the stone’s history was part of an exhibit that remains on show
at the Roseau County Historical Society Museum in Roseau, MN.

The finished draft
was hand calligraphed, personally by John Jager, onto a large card and can be
seen there today. It has always been a point of irritation to the Roseau museum
that the stone’s whereabouts had been missing for the last 59 years, that they
have not been the ones to have the chance to display it. The stone’s whereabouts
have only come to light in February of 2011, a trail of some mystery.

The original finder
of the Stone, one Mr. Jake Nelson of Roseau, had contacted the Hon. C.P. Bull
(of State Dept of Ag, St. Paul). Bull had, earlier, been an original resident of
Roseau. After talking it over, those two decided to mail the RS to their joint
acquaintance, Mike Holm, the Minnesota Secretary of State at the time. Holm was
also a previous resident of Roseau, so the three all knew each other. Mike Holm
then took the Roseau Stone to U of Mn and Dr. Jenks in Anthropology to see if it
could be interpreted.

As explained in the
story-link, above, Jager received the Roseau Stone in 1927 from Professor Jenks.
John Jager was an intellectual, active and hands-on scholar of epigraphy and
ancient script; where as Jenks primarily reflected text-book recitation.

Holm became close
friends with John Jager, over the course of the intense study of the Stone, and
they remained so for the rest of their lives. The Roseau Stone had then, since
1926 or so, been the personal property of Mike Holm, and remained in his
possession until he passed away in 1952.

In those days of
early 20th century, Archaeology was a very new discipline. It had not gained the
growth yet to have a useable data-base for research. Much of Jager's findings
were "cutting edge" theorization being proven by personal discoveries and long
hours of artifacts cataloging, cultural comparison and analysis.

His notes mentioned
that the runes on the Roseau Stone, in some places, were in two rows, one on top
of each other. Major and minor in size. Jager also identified the Runes NOT as
Scandinavian, but as medieval, southern European… and therefore with a root
origin from the Balkans and Slavic regions; from the developing Christian era
not pagan Viking. The runes JJ identified on the Roseau Stone are ancestors to
scripts used later in Russia. As such, Jager, being a native of southern Austria
(bordering on Slavic country) and fluent in Russian, was exactly the set of eyes
the Stone needed to start cracking its message. In his notes, he was comparing
some of the segments to Russian phraseology.

The Roseau Stone is
quite small, even though it looks large and detailed in the photographs.
Here are the pictures
that survived in a library file that was located a few years ago. After his
death, most all other private works of John Jager (outside of his public
architect career) such as his complete notes, photos, and conclusions about the
Stone, were burned when his widow died and could not protect them anymore.

This one file, with
the photographs and a few rough notecards, was hidden
away in a different library far from the house in the ‘Cities. It was John's
personal, anthropological file-drawers in St. Paul that were burned by order of
strange government commands. That is a part of history that cannot be reclaimed
or rewritten.

These picture
frames, shown on this web page, were taken June 19,1927, by John Jager in St.
Paul.

These photographs
were taken of the Roseau Stone before the surface was destroyed, later, by acid.
[This editor has not personally seen any current photos to compare the
condition between the photos of ’27 and today’s stone on display at U of Mn.
John Jager and Mike Holm, in letters from the 1930’s, bothdescribe a marked, drastic reduction of detail and surface texture from the
acid bath applied by Jenks and Stauffer. So far, other photos of the RS that
I’ve seen online, have been reproductions and webpage captures of this original
file of photos on this webpage. The Roseau Historical Society Museum corresponds
to say the Roseau Stone on display at the U of M appears undamaged…? ]
These are the best images of all John's captures, according to his judgment. He
then used them creatively in the darkroom.

Jager manually
created the "Ribbon"
using the old photographic methods of the time. Today we would use computer and
Photoshop to do that. He did not have that luxury. Therefore, do not trust
Jager’s "Ribbon" for total accuracy in image. Where he marked it in pencil is
where the breaks and image overlaps are. Because of the process, the seams are
blurred or have doubled imagery when magnified. Trust the individual pictures
for more accurate interpretation.

Shortly after the
photographs were taken, John gave the rock to the University professors Jenks
(of Anthropology) and Stauffer (a professor of Geology). They destroyed the
artifact by "cleaning it" in an acid bath, which reportedly ate away most of the
evidence on the pebble. They did not want the idea to get out that there was
pre-Columbian contact with American natives. This is all mixed up in the U.S.
mainstream collegiate’s smothering of these ideas, from the 1800’s to present
day. There are bitter opponents in the national University/College system to any
advancing of awareness of pre-1492, Old World diffusion to North America even
today, in spite of all the logical, scientific evidences to the contrary.

Jager was crushed,
outraged and distraught that the beloved item of his last 20 months work,
research and near obsession was ruined because of “professional” ignorance, if
not intentional device. On the photo of the ribbon, J.Jager writes: "Roseau
Stone Minn" and "DAMNED BE JENKS AND STAUFFER!" Jager's trademark logo-initial
testifies to witness that John wrote the notes and created the picture (there in
1930). He adds "Developed inscription ribbon, pieced together for the same
picture plane." [This editor is not claiming these particular comments on U
of MN personnel of the past, only reporting history as it happened.]

Records show that
the ruined stone was once again, for perpetuity after that, in the ownership and
possession of Mike Holm. Again, both Holm and Jager had expressed in letters to
other people that the RS was not in the condition it was before its encounter
with its geological examination. As it turned out, Holm lived a good time longer
than Jager. When the Holm died, the stone supposedly was filed, with all the
rest of Holm’s personal souvenirs, at the State Historical Society in St. Paul,
MN (The capitol city of Minnesota). But the RS went missing altogether, no sign
of its existence for the next 5 decades. It vanished from record from 1952 until
just now, 2011.

In recent years,
the Roseau Stone has caught the attention of avocational scholars the world
over. Awareness of its potential to change North American text book history has
increased. If Columbus was “the first”, then how did a medieval artifact rest in
the hands of Native Americans and be buried in Minnesota centuries before he
arrived? Questions were being raised. The rock was long lost and nobody knew
where it was.

Surprisingly, it
has re-surfaced across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, in the keeping of U
of Minnesota. The family of Theodore Blegen, a few years ago, gifted the Elmer
L. Anderson Library with a packet of Blegen’s personal possessions. Among the
donated items was the Roseau Stone, labeled as such. U of Mn did not immediately
recognize the importance of the listing of one small rock in their numbered box
26. With the modern techno update of their catalogue system, all Library
listings came online for any curious persons to read, world wide. One
independent researcher called the awareness of ELA Library to the presence of
the Roseau Stone in their files.

The Roseau Stone
has now been added to an ongoing exhibit at the ELA Library entitled

The odd part would
seem, that, as many folks know, Blegen was a researcher of the Kensington Rune
Stone, not the Roseau Stone. Blegen was critical of the KRS and was among
the literate and vocal opponents against the presence of Old World cultures in
North America before Columbus. It seems unusual that the Roseau Stone should
show up in his particular file boxes at this late date. Blegen would have been
one of the people to brush the controversy under the rug. In the 1930’s, as
director of the Minnesota Historical Society, he bent over backwards to avoid
confrontation over the KRS. Blegen wrote a book trying to logically negate the
presence of 12th century Europeans in North America, let alone
Minnesota. He would have been one to discount the evidence such a thing as the
Roseau Stone represented, not keepsake it.

Mike Holm was the
one who had retained the Roseau Stone as a dear memory of an old friend and
colleague. So why would the RS show up, now, in the Blegen files? The family
reports that Theodore Blegen received the Stone “shortly before he died”. TB did
not die until 1969. Where was the stone in the missing 17 year gap between
Holm’s passing and Blegen’s possession? More questions to be accounted for. News
here as it happens.

However, the main
thing is, goodness to heavens, we in the avocational and professional network
have it to work with again! Perhaps newer technologies such as infra-red
microscopy, atomic mass spectroscopy or fluorescence can be brought to play and
re-disclose some of the original surface loss the Stone has suffered.

All we have, now,
to prove the Roseau Stone ever had such sharp, clear, defined and miniature
carvings are these pictures and the few rough notes of Jager's that have been
saved. Feel free to spread the photos and story around. Share with other
researchers and scholars. The more copies there are, the more chance the
information has of surviving to the next generation who will appreciate, not
fear, the idea of humans knowing more than we give them credit for about our
globe; far earlier than the European Renaissance.

If there are any
serious researchers, linguists and or epigraphers who would like to have an
e-file of the last, remnant notes anyone knows of left behind by John Jager’s RS
study, they can snail mail a postcard to me, in English, with their mailing
address and e-mail addy. We will connect.

Write to:

The Equinox Project

P.O.Box 434

Perley, MN 56574-0434

ROSEAU STONE: A brief
Case-History of the so-called ROSEAU STONE

(by John Jager, circa
1935)

This stone has been found near Roseau,
Minnesota, before 1927 by Mr. Jake Nelson. The authenticity of its finding is
known to Mr. P.O. Frykund, Clerk of Court in Roseau; Mrs. Martin, a sister of
the finder; Mr. C.P. Bull, State Department of Agriculture, St. Paul; and Hon.
Mike Holm, Secretary of our State, who personally investigated the case in loco.
Hon. Mike Holm is the owner of this stone, also keeper and recorder of all facts
connected with this archeological find from the Stone-Age of Minnesota.

In 1927 Hon. Mike Holm
submitted this stone to the Department of Anthropology of the University of
Minnesota, Prof. A. E. Jenks, for investigation.

John Jager, a member of
the Institute of Architects, living at 6 Red Cedar Lake in Minneapolis received
this monument from Prof. A. E. Jenks as to "what you can make out of it..." for
being a student of the so-called Stone-Age literature and its Paleography...
subjected this stone to painstaking scrutiny under all angles of approach. The
motto of his guidance for doing this work remained at all times the archeologist
maxim:

HOW EASY IT IS TO SEE A
PART, ... HOW HARD, TO SEE THE WHOLE.

First of all, the
investigator ascertained those basic compositional features, which always
characterize man's art in seeking and giving its expression through matter. This
stone, in its form, by man's selection responded to evaluation for its
PROPORTION (up and down), for its DIRECTION (front and rear) and for its
MASS-SYMMETRY in front observation, (right and left.)

Under these three agenda
the form disclosed A MINIATURE HUMAN HEAD of such dimensional limitations:
proportion 2 inches, [5 cm] by direction 1 3/8 inches [3 cm] by symmetry (all
over) 7/16 inch. [sic]

[ed note: I have seen
the pictures of the stone and it would seem to be an unintentional "typographic
error" by J.Jager in this rough draft, created on a mechanical
typewriter, to have skipped a "1" inch indication before the "7/16 inch"
notation. Over all frontal symmetry would appear in photos to be 1 & 7/16ths
inch or approximately 3.6 cm.]

In looking en-face we
discover in further, a band of AN INSCRIPTIONAL RIBBON average 3/8 of an inch
wide, [1 cm] contouring the entire face oval a seam or border of a headgear,
well recognized by students of medieval costume. This ribbon is masterly
selected for its graphic propensities.

The stone in itself is
admirably chosen for ies petrographical virtue: degree of resistance to the
elements. An artist in stereothomy [sic] and naturalist, the producer of
this miniature document must have been....

[ed note: Jager
continues throughout all notes where I’ve seen him use this vocabulary word, he
spells stereotomy with an “h”. Dictionary says “the art or science of cutting
solid bodies, esp stone, into desired shapes.”]

For two years, Prof. Jager
reviewed the Roseau-Stone, in his spare time. Numerous photographs were taken of
it, in diffused light, and under sunbeam for holding of its artificial
characteristics... in whole and in detail ....

The ribbon of inscription
became available in enlargement in a developed flat, by being pieced together
from units. This laid the basis for a PALEOGRAPHIC approach concerning the
inscription.

There is no doubt about
the existence of an archaic script, of which said kinds are known to indigenous
Europe. The scripter must have been a master in handling LIGATURES. There are
actually two lines of text in evidence; the upper one, distinct and pronounced,
the lower fragmentary or inter-functioning with the upper, much in the character
as observed on runic calendars (see, "Calendario Runnico," Museum of Bologna, 4
photographs). [ed. – This must have been an exhibit in that era, which Jager
went to see or was personally familiar with, being an international traveler. At
any rate, he was not imagining his resources, but basing his conclusions on
solid, historical findings.]

There are DISTINCT LETTERS
in evidence, bringing even to our age a positive proof and authority that this
monument with its painstakingly carved inscription is genuine and outstanding as
a work of man of long ago..., damaged as it be.

It is regrettable that
this stone that resisted the ravages of ages in an extreme climate, when found
in Roseau, Minnesota became at once an object of "doubt" even as to its genuine
existence, understood for its high compositional virtue, unappreciated for its
historical significance, ... in short,...authoritively [sic] degraded by
a scientifically narrow and abberated [sic] posterity...

It so happened:

In 1929 Jager sent all his data as
described above to Prof. A. E. Jenks, returning to him also the Roseau-Stone at
the same time.

On January 14, 1930
A.E.Jenks called Jager on the telephone. The following conversation issued:

Professor A. E. Jenks:
"The stone which supposedly was found in Roseau and which you (Jager) contend to
be an artifact, bearing and inscription by human hand (passed on to professor
C.R. Stauffer, Department of Geology in our University for investigation.) Prof.
Stauffer thoroughly cleaned that stone and analyzed it petrographically. He
ascertained beyond any doubt that the stone does not show any work by human
hand. There is no ribbon of writing on it, the kind you believe, He is in
position to show you dozens of just such stones in his department, all works of
nature in their designs -- fully concurring his opinion.

Jager: "Do you truly
believe it?"

Prof. Jenks: "I must, as
it comes from an authority. We are not any more interested in this stone. (I
shall see that it is returned to Mike Holm...")

Through kindness of Mr. C.
P. Bull I obtained again the Roseau Stone from Hon Mike Holm desirous to
ascertain the degree of mutilation which it must have experienced at the hands
of "authorities." They surely gave it an acid bath and brushing, whereby all its
archeological patina became lost, its scriptural finesse obliterated. Researched
away, forever.

It is fortunate that there
are photographs of this stone in existence before it struck the University
Laboratories. Archeologically minded men should never had permitted such a rouch
handling of an object, unique and strange, andlittle understood.

Herewith I return the
Roseau Stone to Hon Mike Holm, its owner. Attached to it is an arrow found by
Mr. C. P. Bull upon the site where the stone had been found before. The time
will come when more of such characteristic artifacts shall appear. The soil of
Minnesota may yield them proving that there was an undisputed connection of our
Northwest with Europe of long ago. Such "strangers" as the little stone of
Roseau should be saved from subersion [sic] [ed. subversion]

The archeology of a new
day should accord them an impartial documentation. There is still more work
ahead.. and "authorities" better be careful because the judgment by posterity is
still ahead, upon the Ribbon of Time.